The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-19
most excellent hay, and on good soils
is of large growth.

~ 49,
is of large growth.
The Bermuda grass is propagated
by both the root and seed. 1t runs
along the ground like a vine, and at
every joint takes root. Until within
a few years it wa supposed not to
mature seed in this country and root
cuttings were the seed used. But
seeds can be procured now in the
usual way. On the sandy soils of the
tide-water belt of our cotton States it
makes a fine growth. The amount of
hay per acre produced on good lands
is wonderful. Four and five tons per
acre annually for a period Of ten years
is the amount given by some who have
cultivated it.
Both the Johnson and Bermuda
grass have long been regarded by the
Southern planter as the pests Of his
hoed crops. 1t seemed impossible to
subdue them. Two years ago the
Rural New Yorker sent out to its
patrons in it's free-seed distribution,
seeds Of the Johnson grass that, should
it prove hardy at the North, would
be a great acquisition as a fodder crop.
The following season the Rmal pub
lished several communications from
parties acquainted with it in the South
condemning the grass as a pest ; that
once seeded, it would spread over the
whole plantation. But what was once
considered the greatest objection to
these two plants may probably be
considered their greatest merit. Their
persistent foot-hold in the soil, their
spreading habit, their rapid growth.
Other things being equal, these are
prime considerations for a forage
plant.
The Bermuda grass, aside from it's
food value, has qualities of a mechani-
cal character that are benefcent. Its
matted roots stay the levee banks of
the Mississippi, and keep in check it's
fearful food. The slopes of railroad
cuts and fills are often seeded with it's
root cuttings.
The crab grass makes excellent pas
ture in midsummer and up till time
of frost. The luxuriant growth on
good lands moved, makes valuable
hay. The farther South we 60 with
it the greater it's growth.
The maHets do exceedingly we'll in
our climate. We have the German,
Hungarian and Pearl millet. The
Hungarian is probably grown more
than both the others. 1t delights in
the hot sun of midsummer, and sown
after harvest, on well-manured land,
will produce a crop in about six weeks
ready for the scythe, makes valuable
hay, good for mich COWS.
More than 100 varieties of ~clovers
r described by n%aturalists. The
common red and the lucern deserve
the most consideration. The red
clover is probably one Of the most
valuable plants to the farmer that he
can give his attention to. If he would
be successful as a farmer, and would
keep his land constantly improving,
and improve it in the cheapest way
known to agriculture, he must sow clorer.
Our best agriculturists style it the
sheet anchor of the American farmer,
and by some Of them it is regarded so
much cheaper to enrich land by plow-
ing under clover, that they would not
haul barn-yard manure a mile if it
were given to them. Clover makes
an excellent pasture and fodder crop !;
makes the best hay for mich cows
and sheep /; cut and fed fresh to hogs,
it is one of the best green feeds they
can have, and probably or that alone
they will make a healthier growth
than on any other n feed. It may
be debateable whether it's value as a
manurial plant, or it's value as a forage
plant is the greater to the farmer. The
manur from stock fed on clover is
among the best, and its wonderful
root system penetrating often in less
than a year to the depth of three feet
or more, and amounting in weight to
a little over half that of the top. It
starts with the earliest plants of spring
and grows the summer through. The
lucern clover in it's product Of forage
per acre far surpasses the red, but the
comparative value Of the red far sur
passes that of the lucern. It is hardy
at the North, but its most luxuriant
development is reached in the light
sandy soils and warm climate of the
South, where it may be styled the
forage plant par excellence. Its long
tap root reaching a depth of more